Hundreds of striking NHS consultants gathered at a rally in central London on Thursday were told: “Every single one of us has wrestled with this decision.”
Dr Vishal Sharma, from the British Medical Association’s UK consultants committee, told the gathering at the BMA headquarters that it had “not been an easy decision”. But action was necessary as consultants’ pay risked a brain drain in the form of an exodus from the UK, or to the private sector, he said.
“Not so long ago doctors wanted to come to the UK and work here. But now we risk them leaving in their droves,” he added.
Consultant doctors and hospital-based dentists are striking for 48 hours from Thursday until 7am on Saturday. More than 24,000 consultants voted in the BMA ballot for industrial action last month, 86% of whom voted in favour.
The government has told consultants they will receive a 6% pay rise, but the BMA has called this “derisory” and said doctors have seen real-term take-home pay fall by more than a third over the last 14 years.
A succession of health secretaries had refused to engage, Sharma said. Steve Barclay met consultants once in February, and not since they voted overwhelmingly for strike action in a ballot last month, Sharma told the rally.
He said that while consultants were no doubt paid more than average, “You have to look at the context, the level of training and the level of responsibility that we hold, making hundreds of decisions a day that impact on people’s lives.”
Pay levels would affect recruitment, he said. To a standing ovation, he went on: “If we don’t make a stand, who in their right minds would want to follow in our footsteps?”
There was a standing ovation too for RMT leader Mick Lynch, who addressed the rally, saying: “Change is coming in this country. I can feel it out there.”
There was loud cheering as he called for “this corrupt, rotten government to go as quickly as possible”.
The government should be congratulated, Lynch added, as aside from the rail workers, they had “brought the barristers out, brought the doctors out, the teachers out, everyone that’s looking out for us, they’ve brought out on strike”.
James Brown, a respiratory consultant at the Royal Free hospital in London, who attended the rally, told the Guardian: “It’s not just people leaving, but people choosing to take private income. If that continues, it could go the way of dentistry, where the NHS becomes a rump service that gives limited cover for people.”
He added that it was “an uncomfortable feeling” being on strike. He said consultants also knew that “we will end up having to pick up some of the work we are not doing today”.
Shevantha Rosa, a neuroradiology consultant at St George’s hospital in London, said some colleagues had been talking of moving overseas, “not only because of pay but also the work-life balance”.
“It does feel like there is just this slow attrition of doctors,” he said. It was not just consultants leaving, but also it “becoming a less attractive career”.
A part-time hospital-based dentistry consultant, who gave his first name as Chong, said: “We are concerned about the young people who have aspirations and huge debts.
“We are seeing this as a problem in recruiting because of the competition from the private sector and from overseas. It’s not just the pay, it’s the whole career progression.”
